A new feature film shot entirely in the Mountains and featuring local cast and crew is finally in the can, ending a four-year process for Leura resident and first-time director, Nick A'Hern
"It started in 2019 when I had been working for a number of years previously running a film class for 3 Sisters Youth Theatre students," he said.
"I was so taken with their talent that I enlisted the help of a writer to write a screen play set in the Blue Mountains and featuring three of the students and including many of the other students as extras."
The result was The Ninth Order, which will have a cast and crew showing at The Edge Cinema next week, followed by entries to film festivals.
Mr A'hern said: "We took two and a half years to film with having to work around students' school and study commitments as well as COVID.
"The cast also includes a number of professional actors that have worked on other films."
This includes John Jarratt from Wolf Creek who plays a leading role.
Mr A'hern's budget was "minimal", he said, but he was supported by many local businesses and venues.
These included The Carrington Hotel, Avalon Restaurant, Metropole Tavern, Everglades Gardens, The Turkish Bath Museum at Mt Wilson, Woodford Academy and Katoomba Antique Centre. All have been invited to next week's screening.
The Ninth Order's story revolves around Jada (Helena Zadro-Jones), an ordinary teenager whose world changes when her estranged father is found brutally murdered.
It leads to a series of supernatural events that draw the attention of a centuries old group known only as 'The Ninth Order' and their leader, Jada's grandfather, Colton (played by Jarratt). Jada soon finds herself and friends Grace (Faith Birkett) and Ashley (Sophie Clement) in the middle of their world, a supernatural bacchanalia. Her only hope lies with Finn, a handsome young man at the ball, who could well be Jada's soulmate ... and the man who killed her father.
Mr A'Hern will now enter the movie into film festivals in both Australia and internationally while also sending it to distributors for theatrical release.
